New Fortis CEO Herman Verwilst is not in favour of holding an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to explain recent events at the financial services group, the NRC reports on Wednesday.

The paper says Verwilst was speaking personally. Fortis’ supervisory board will decide whether an extra meeting is necessary on August 1.
Shareholders lobby group VEB called for the meeting so that Fortis can explain why it is taking measures to strengthen its balance sheet by over €8bn. The announcement at the end of June followed a string of assurances about the company’s financial situation.
Verwilst, who was speaking to journalists as part of a confidence-building drive, said EGMs were ‘meant to be used to take important decisions’.
‘If an EGM is only needed to answer questions, there are more efficient ways of doing that,’ Verwilst said.
VEB director Jan Maarten Slagter told the NRC he was disappointed in Verwilst’s reaction. The VEB wanted to do more than ask questions, he said.